Over It
by EGB Fan
Summary: More than twenty years on from all the trouble, Wanda and Celine are back. But is it out of mere curiosity, as they claim?


**Disclaimer: **_Ghostbusters _and _Extreme Ghostbusters_ © Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Fil Barlow. All original characters in this story © the author.

_Extreme Ghostbusters: _**Over It**

**January 2029**

"This is completely stupid. I'm leaving."

"Oh no no no no no, Celine, don't." Celine's companion grabbed her arm, and looked pleadingly into her eyes. "I just want you to point them out to me."

Celine sighed heavily. "Wanda…"

"What harm are we doing?"

"None… yet. Why do you need _me_ for this, anyway?"

"We can discuss everybody," Wanda said cheerfully. "Anyway, you've seen all of them close up, and I haven't. Well… just Rose. And that was a long time ago."

"It was a long time ago for me too," said Celine. "Twenty-one _years_, Wanda!"

"April 'oh-eight, you said. That's not twenty-one years. Come on, Celine, you must recognise _somebody_. I can't see- " Then suddenly she stopped, let out a horrified gasp, and pointed. "There's Eduardo!"

"Remember what we said about being inconspicuous?" said Celine, lowering Wanda's arm with her hand as she followed her pointing finger.

"He's left Kylie for a blonde in her twenties!" said Wanda. "And they've had a _baby_!"

"Not necessarily," said Celine, squinting through the small crowd at the unlikely trio. Eduardo was holding the baby: a round-faced, babbling child of perhaps nine or ten months. They were standing in front of a very tall, colourful painting which could not be deciphered at such a distance. If it had been a more traditional piece of art, it would have been easy to make out the shapes, but this particular artist's work seemed to require a degree of consideration and interpretation. The baby was gazing around at the images and the people in the room, transfixed, while Eduardo carried on a conversation with the young woman.

"That's disgusting," said Wanda. "Hey… do you think Kylie _died_?"

Celine shook her head. "I would have heard if Kylie had died. Oh, look, there she is. With Roland."

"Oh yeah," said Wanda.

"Maybe we shouldn't look at them."

Wanda gave Celine a cock-eyed look. "You're not still hung up on him, are you?"

"No."

"All right, so who else is there to look at?"

"Well…" Celine looked around, and then her gaze fell upon another young woman, this one brown-haired, slim and fairly tall. "Ah! Now, I'm pretty sure that's Conchita - over there, with the Chinese guy. I shouldn't assume he's Chinese. With the oriental guy."

"Who, that one?" asked Wanda, following her gaze. "Oh my God, she's gorgeous!"

"Oh God, don't start that," said Celine.

Wanda scowled at her. "I'm just saying. Surely you can see she's gorgeous."

"Well," said Celine, "she was always going to be."

"I guess that guy's her boyfriend, then."

"Or her fiancé. Look at her hand."

"Oh yeah," said Wanda, a little dejectedly, looking at the possible engagement ring the woman was wearing. "That's such a shame. Oh my God!"

"Keep your voice down!" hissed Celine. "What?"

"She's had a boob job!"

"_What_? Don't be ridiculous. What on earth makes you say that?"

"Just look at her boobs - they're completely disproportionate! She's not a stick, but she's only about the same size I used to be - she's definitely too thin to have boobs that big."

"What are you looking at her boobs for anyway?" said Celine. "Come on, let's move a little bit. I still can't see Rose, and she's the one person we _know_ must be here."

Wanda seemed content to keep frowning with disapproval at Conchita's breasts, but Celine managed to persuade her to walk into the crowd a little - away from Eduardo, Kylie and Roland - until she found what she was looking for.

"_That's_ Rose," said Celine, nodding discreetly in the direction of yet another young woman, this one dark and petite. "She's pretty too, isn't she?"

"Very," said Wanda. "And she's with a man as well, I see."

"Mmm, isn't she just," said Celine. The man in question was not classically handsome, but he had beautiful blue eyes and a lovely smile, not to mention an amazing body. He had his arm around Rose, and was talking nineteen to the dozen.

"She'swearing a wedding ring," said Wanda. "Oh my God, how old is she?"

"Mid-twenties?" said Celine. "_He's_ not wearing one, though. Actually…" She squinted harder at his face. "I should say there is a very good chance that's Max Miller."

"Who?"

"Garrett's kid. I actually saw _him_ about eighteen and a half years ago - he went to the wedding with Garrett and his woman. They didn't see me, though."

"I'm not interested in him," Wanda said dismissively, still looking at Rose. "Well, at least she hasn't had a boob job."

"Oh, wait a minute, _I _know!" said Celine, as something suddenly clicked. "Conchita hasn't had a boob job - she's breast-feeding! That's _her_ baby!"

"What?" Wanda moved off a short way to a position where she could see Eduardo, the blonde and the baby. Celine followed her. "No, it can't be. You saw the guy she was with, and that baby's as white as I am."

"Yeah, it is," said Celine. "So it's more likely to be hers than Eduardo's. She just looks like a white person with a tan - she could easily have had that kid with some other guy."

"Oh, come on. The kid's got to be under a year old, and now she's engaged to that other guy? That's insane!"

"Hey, I told you how quickly this friend of mine got engaged - maybe this is the same. _Or_ maybe that guy's just a friend, and it's really the baby's dad she's engaged to."

"So who's the blonde with Eduardo?"

"I don't know," said Celine, "and I don't really want to stand here speculating about it. We've seen everybody now, so can we please just go?"

"No way!" said Wanda. "We haven't seen _anything_ yet."

"Yeah, well, _I _don't give a shit," said Celine. "And I'm going to leave before I'm seen."

She had barely made it three steps, however, when someone blocked her path and said, incredulously, "Celine?"

It was Eduardo. Before she had fully taken this in, Celine instinctively turned to see whether Wanda was visible from where they stood. If Eduardo knew she was there, he would not be happy. Fortunately, however, she seemed to have melted into the crowd.

"What are you doing here?" said Eduardo.

"Why do you sound like that?" said Celine. "I thought we parted on okay terms."

"Sure," said Eduardo, "we did. But then we didn't see you for twenty-one years."

"It's not twenty-one years until April."

"Well, why come back now? Come on, I want to know."

Celine shrugged. "All right, but it's not anything very interesting. I just got to hear about _this _- " she gestured at the room around them " - and I thought: Wow, the last time I saw Rose Rivera she was _literally_ learning to read. And it just made me kind of curious."

"About who - Rose?"

"All of you, really. I was interested to see her art. I don't know shit about art, but still…"

Eduardo smiled slightly. "I don't know shit about art either."

"But you must be very proud of her."

"Yeah, of course."

He looked over Celine's shoulder, and she followed his gaze to where Rose had taken his previous position; she was now talking to the young blonde, and holding the baby, who at that moment started to cry. Conchita was there in a second; she took the baby from her sister, carried him over to the one of the glass cuboids that provided the only sitting option, and plugged him onto her left breast. At this, the child immediately fell quiet.

Feeling faintly smug, Celine turned back to Eduardo and said, "So you're a grandpa."

"Oh, yeah," said Eduardo, looking rather surprised to be reminded of this fact. "We've been grandparents for two and a half years, actually - her daughter's with Dennis's mom and dad. That's Dennis," he added, not sounding entirely happy about it, and nodding towards the oriental man who had been with Conchita just minutes ago.

"Cool," said Celine, burning with curiosity about both children's paternity and what plans Conchita may have had to marry, but she didn't like to ask. "What are their names?"

"Charlotte and Joshua."

"Awesome. And is she engaged? I noticed the ring."

"Yeah," said Eduardo, again not sounding completely at peace with the situation.

"Don't like the guy, huh?"

"Well… he's not _that_ bad."

"What about Rose? _She's_ wearing a wedding ring."

Eduardo gave her an odd look. "You noticed that too, huh?"

"Can I help it if I'm an observant person? She was hugging Max earlier. At least, I _think_ it was Max. It was, wasn't it? Did she marry _him_?"

Eduardo laughed. Celine, failing to see the joke, waited for him to stop, which he did soon enough. Then he said, "No, no, she's married to - "

"Celine?"

Celine was momentarily annoyed, as she was curious to know who had had the honour of putting that ring on Rose's finger. Then she was at once pleased and alarmed when she found herself looking at the stunned face of Roland Jackson.

"Roland, hi!" she said, smiling, surprised by how comfortable she began to feel in his presence once the initial shock wore off. "I'm here because I saw this thing advertised and I was curious, okay? So how are you?"

"Um… all right," said Roland.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. So much for thinking you guys wouldn't recognise me, huh?"

"You don't look so different," said Eduardo. "It's just your hair's not purple anymore."

"Yeah," said Celine, "and I've let all of my holes close up." Roland looked faintly puzzled, but Celine decided not to elaborate. "Eduardo and I were just catching up."

"Yeah, well, I might just let you guys do the same," said Eduardo, and suddenly he had melted away, much as Wanda had done.

"Don't look like that," said Celine. "I'm not still hung up on you or anything."

"Oh," said Roland. "Good."

"So you can fill me in on everything," Celine went on bracingly. "Are Eduardo and Kylie still together? I haven't seen them together all morning."

"Oh yes," said Roland. "Pretty well everyone's still together."

"Yeah, well, I guess it works for some people. You and Grace are still together, then?"

"Yes."

"How's your stepdaughter? Married? Kids? Two kids and at least two men?"

"No," said Roland. "Nat's been, um… _seeing_ someone… on and off." From the way he said it, Celine got the impression that Natalie had seen _all_ of this person, and in less than honourable circumstances. "But she says she doesn't want to get married."

Celine nodded. "At last, someone sensible."

"Oh? So you never…?"

"No. So how are the other kids?"

Roland raised his eyebrows. "What makes you think we had other kids?"

"I saw the birth announcements."

"_What_? When?"

"Well, let's see… about fifteen and a half years ago, and seventeen and a half years ago respectively. Lucy Olivia Jackson, born August sixteenth, twenty thirteen. That's such a pretty name - I've always remembered it. And Adam Timothy Jackson, right? I don't remember that one so well, it was longer ago. Born July, um…"

"Eighteenth."

"Right, right. July eighteenth, twenty eleven."

"How…?"

"Please don't look so freaked out," said Celine. "I'm off the magic for good, remember? Stephie kept me informed. We _did_ live together for a while - or had you forgotten?"

At that, Roland's expression cleared completely. "Oh, of course - she and Garrett kept in touch. She got married, though, didn't she? Before Adam was even born."

"Oh, God, that was _ridiculous_!" said Celine. "One minute she was weeping over Garrett, and then suddenly she finds this new man, and less than two years later they're married! So yes, that was a whole _year_ before Adam was born. More than - it was June. But anyway, she kept in touch with me after that. Why shouldn't she?"

"No reason at all. Well, I don't call that fair. She never told us about _you_."

"That's because I asked her not to."

"What? But that's… that's…"

"You could have asked her not to pass stuff onto me," said Celine. "But you didn't, did you? So I know everything. Well, up to a point. So, come on - what are they like?"

"Who?"

"Your kids, duh."

"Oh, right," said Roland. "Well… I can't really answer that adequately. I mean, there's quite a lot to them - you won't know what they're really like if I just _tell_ you. Would…" He hesitated for a moment, then finished, "Would you like to meet them?"

Celine raised her eyebrows, very much surprised. "_Meet_ them?"

"That's what I said. We've been getting on all right just now, haven't we? I can introduce you as an old friend. It won't be a problem. Well…" He became suddenly unsure. "I suppose Grace… I'd better call and warn them."

"Grace?" said Celine. "What about Grace? Oh, God - she didn't turn out to be one of those nagging, mewling wives, did she?"

"No, not at all," Roland said defensively. "It's just that she, um…"

"You told her about me, didn't you?"

"Well… yes."

"When?"

"Right after it happened."

"After it _didn't_ happen, you mean," Celine said dryly. "How much did you tell her?"

"Everything."

"About those few times we kissed?"

"Yes."

"And she married you anyway? You were lucky there, Roland," said Celine. "That could have gone either way."

"Well there's not much point in talking about it now," said Roland, pulling out his cell phone. "I'll go and call them, okay? Oh, look - you can talk to Kylie."

"Celine," said Kylie, approaching with Eduardo. "I heard you were here."

"Well," said Celine, as Roland sloped off. "They say good news travels fast."

"Are you planning on buying anything?"

"If I see something I especially like, of course I'll buy it. It's Max, isn't it?" Celine said hastily, practically leaping into the path of the person she believed to be Max Miller as soon as he came close. Kylie, Celine remembered, had never really come around to her, even when she'd had Wanda committed and decided that evil sorcery wasn't for her after all. "I don't suppose you remember me. I'm an old, um…"

"Enemy," said Kylie.

"Really?" said Max, surprised and interested.

"Well," said Celine. "Kind of. The last time I saw _you_, though, was Stephie's wedding. Do you remember that?"

"Stephie's wedding?" said Max, his smile flickering slightly. "Yeah, I remember that."

"You were bored out of your skull," said Celine, the scene appearing in her mind as clear as day now that she was looking Max in the face again. "I remember now. I managed to avoid your parents, but you _did_ see me. It was during the service, and you were kind of hanging off the end of your pew, and then you looked behind you and you caught my eye, and you gave me this look, like: How boring is _this_?"

Max laughed. "Ha, yeah, good times. Oh, hey, I think I _do_ remember that. Weren't you…? Never mind. Ooh, I know - come and talk to Rose!"

"What?" Kylie said darkly.

Max looked at her, and said, "She'd like to talk to her." Then he turned back to Celine. "If you're someone who used to know our parents, and you came here to see her art, she'll be really touched. She won't show it, but honestly, she'll love you. Come on, she's over here," and he started shepherding Celine across the room.

Rose, in spite of being almost twenty-one years older, was much as Celine remembered her: serious, unsmiling and not keen on small talk. But she was much politer than she had been at four years old. She was happy to discuss her art, but Celine soon found that she was not being allowed to steer the conversation anywhere else. It was strictly business, and not very interesting. Celine, therefore, was easily distracted when, a few yards away, Conchita started to lay protective covering all over a glass cuboid-bench and take baby food out of an enormous bag she had produced from somewhere. Rose noticed that Celine's attention was wandering, swivelled round to see what she was looking at, and then turned back to her with an expression of mingled fondness and exasperation.

"I wouldn't let anybody else do that," she said.

Celine thought she should have guessed that Rose's weakness would be her little nephew. She decided to carry on the conversation about him, hoping this would make Rose say something interesting. She said the only thing she could think of: "He's cute, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's really heavy," said Rose, unexpectedly, and she started nursing her left elbow. "Go and tell Chita how adorable he is if you want to - she'll love that."

This sounded like a very good idea, and Celine decided to try it. She went over to Conchita and Joshua, and said enthusiastically, "Oh, he's adorable!"

Celine was given the most radiant smile she had ever seen, and after that it was easy. She reintroduced herself, and Conchita said she remembered her. Then the younger woman allowed herself to be led into a discussion about her engagement - triggered by an offhand comment about the ring - and soon began to answer some of Celine's questions.

"We first got together six years ago," she said chattily, referring to herself and Dennis, and spooning some revolting looking stuff into Joshua's mouth while she talked. "We split up for a while, though. He's not Joshua's father - I expect you can tell."

"So what happened to him?" asked Celine. "If you don't mind my asking."

"Not at all," said Conchita. "I was with him for a year, when Charlotte was a baby. We had a lot of fun. Daddy's a lot of fun, isn't she?" she said to Joshua.

"Dad-deee," the child remarked, with his mouth full.

"But then he cheated on me when I told him I was pregnant."

"Oh my God!" said Celine.

"Well, we all make mistakes, don't we? I never really loved him anyway, so it's all worked out for the best. He's a great dad - he's crazy about his kids. He has another one - I didn't mention that. The woman he cheated on me with was pregnant at the same time as me - she had Scott in October. He's so adorable! And she's a really nice woman - I like her. She and Nick are still together. They're going to get married this year."

Celine gaped. "But that's…"

"It's great! He _did_ say he was in love with _me_, but… I don't know, I think they'll be okay. Oh, honey, have you had enough? Celine, would you mind holding him for me while I put this stuff away?" and she bundled Joshua onto Celine's lap.

Celine was very happy to hold the baby. She jigged him up and down on her knee as she carried on talking. Conchita, it seemed, was the person to fill her in. "So what about your sister? She's married, isn't she?"

"Oh, yeah - she and Anna have been married for a year and a half now," said Conchita. She looked around for Anna, and then nodded towards the young blonde Eduardo had been talking to earlier. Celine had been assuming that Rose's beloved was a man, but when she heard that it wasn't, she felt no surprise at all. "She's great. She's an artist too - she's very talented. And she really makes Rose happy, so I love her for that."

"Quite," said Celine. "Well… it's a shame Adam and Lucy couldn't be here."

"You never met them, did you?" said Conchita.

"No, I never did."

"Mommy," said Joshua. "Boobies."

"You had boobies a half-hour ago, Joshua," Conchita said smilingly, taking the child back into her arms. "Hopefully he'll grow out of that by the time he gets a girlfriend." She took out a breast, and let Joshua suck as she went on talking. "Anyway, yeah - Adam was _very_ apologetic about not being able to make it. He's at home, working hard. He's going to college next year, and now he's killing himself trying to get the grades. He doesn't have to get so stressed, though - he's really smart. And he's _such_ a nice boy. He said he'd try and drop in later, but Rose said he didn't have to - I don't know if he will."

"And Lucy?" asked Celine.

"Oh, she's _such_ a sweet girl," said Conchita. "And she's _so_ pretty. She thinks she's not, but she is really. Anyway, she's only young, and she and Rose aren't best friends or anything, and she's not that into art anyway - no one really expected her to come. We didn't expect Roland to come either - there was no pressure on anyone - but he insisted. Wasn't that sweet of him? He's a really nice guy."

"He sure is," said Celine, who had given up trying to get any real gossip out of Conchita. She was fine on facts, but her character references were clearly lacking. She was gushing about Roland's most recent niece, an alleged "angel" belonging to his youngest brother, when Joshua soiled himself. He denied it vigorously - "No" was another one of his isolated words - but his mother carried him off somewhere to change him all the same. Then before she had time to move, Celine found that Roland was sitting next to her.

"That's extraordinary," she said, watching Conchita's retreating form.

"What is?" asked Roland.

"She can find something nice to say about absolutely _everyone_. Even her ex and his whore and their brat."

"Oh, don't say that!" a new voice said, and then Max Miller was sitting down opposite them. "Scott's way cute."

"Yes, and none of it was _his_ fault," said Roland.

"Tchuh," Celine said disdainfully. "I'd hate all of their guts, if I were her."

"Oh, Chita's not like that," said Max. "She always looks on the bright side, no matter what happens. You have to, really, otherwise you go crazy."

"Yeah, I guess you do," said Celine, thinking of Wanda and wondering where she had got to. "What about Rose - does she look on the bright side too? I can't see it, personally."

"Well, she doesn't have to," said Max. "Everything always goes right for her."

Celine wrinkled her nose. "Bitch."

"Don't say that," said Max, smiling amusedly. "It's not just that she gets all the luck - it's that she never makes a bad decision. She's kind of… she's like a crocodile, you know?"

"Not really," said Celine. "Don't crocodiles ever make a bad decision?"

Max shook his head. "Never. Have you ever seen one of those wildlife shows about crocodiles? You know how they hunt - they just sit there in the river with their little eyes poking out of the surface, looking like rocks, and when the wildebeests and things come down to drink they just watch them for ages. Then suddenly they decide: Okay, I want _that_ one. Then they jump up and take it, and everything's fine. Well, Rose is like that."

"If it was really that easy," said Celine, "we'd _all_ be like that."

"Well," said Max, "maybe it's partly down to luck as well. I guess she was lucky to meet Anna right away - she's never been with anybody else."

"She did go on one date with Max," Roland told Celine.

"Oh, that doesn't count," said Max. "I just made her sure she was a lesbian, that's all."

Celine winced. "Ouch."

"It's okay. She's my best friend - it'd be weird if it had turned into anything else."

"Okay, so what now? You're hot - you must have a girlfriend."

"Oh," said Max, looking a little downcast. "Not since last week. She dumped me."

"Oh no!" said Celine. "Why?"

"I'm not sure. I think maybe she was just bored with me. Actually, it's kind of awkward, because she's Rose's sister-in-law. Anna's been avoiding me all morning."

"You don't have much luck with women, do you?"

Max seemed to consider this. "No, not really. But that could be because I'm not very careful - I just go out with women I think I like before I really know very much about them. I should be more like Rose - _she_ wouldn't do that."

"You're not a crocodile, then?" said Celine, who was warming to Max more and more.

"No," said Max. "I'm more like… I'm more like a seal."

She laughed. "A _seal_?"

"Yeah, a seal going after gannets. Do you know what a gannet is? I didn't until I saw them on TV, but then _I'm_ not very clever. They're a kind of seabird, and they eat fish, obviously. And what seals do is, they go to the beach where there's all these gannets, and they just _go for them_. They're like: Okay, I'll have that one, and that one, and that one - they don't think about it. But they don't actually want to _eat_ the gannets. What they do is they hold them by the wing, and bash their brains out on the rocks, and then they open up their bellies because what they want is the fish inside. But they don't know how much fish is actually in there. There might not even be _any_. So that's why I'm like a seal."

"Yes, I see," said Celine. "Max, what on earth makes you think you're not clever? That's _very_ clever - you should be a writer or something."

Max laughed dismissively. "Oh, I couldn't do that - my written English isn't good enough. Anyway, I wouldn't have the patience to finish anything."

"All right, if you say so. You should do what makes you happy."

"Well," said Max, "I try to. Oh, look, my dad's here - excuse me," and he got up to go.

"Oh," said Celine, as soon as she thought he was out of earshot, "I _love_ him!"

"We all love him," said Roland. "He's a breath of fresh air, he really is."

"Why would anybody dump him? Y'know, sweet guys with fabulous bodies are virtually non-existent. He should be beating them off with a stick."

"Well, it's happened before. Several times."

"Aww, poor guy - that's terrible. Y'know, if it goes on, one day he's just gonna snap."

Roland looked about to say something else, but then Celine's cell phone started ringing. She took it out of her pocket, expecting the caller display to tell her that it was Wanda who wanted to talk to her, but this was not so. When Celine saw the name on the display, she gasped excitedly and answered with enthusiasm, "Hey, baby!"

"Hey," the caller's voice came back to her. "I just got home."

"Oh!" said Celine. "I'm not there."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm in Manhattan - I wasn't expecting you back today. I'm sorry, I'll come home."

"What are you doing in Manhattan? Anything good?"

"Well." Celine looked vaguely around her. "I'm at this art… thing. It's the daughter of an old… acquaintance of mine."

"Art thing? Cool. Don't come home - I'll go to Manhattan and meet you. How long is this art thing going on?"

"Um… hold on." Celine lowered the phone to her chest, and looked at Roland. "Hey, how long is this thing going on?"

"A few more hours, I think," said Roland.

"Cool." She resumed her phone conversation. "It's going on for a few more hours - you can come and meet me here." She then proceeded to give directions, and finally hung up when she and her caller had agreed that they couldn't wait to see each other.

"Who was that?" asked Roland, looking rather surprised by her behaviour.

"That was Jason," said Celine. "My son."

"_What_?"

"You heard."

"You had a…? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask."

"Well… no, but I asked whether you'd met anybody."

Celine raised her eyebrows. "Is _that_ what you were asking me? I thought you wanted to know if I was married. And I'm not. Never have been, never will be."

"But you had a kid. So… you must have met someone special, right?"

Celine laughed dryly. "Wrong. I was with Jason's father for about six months, but it was never supposed to be anything serious. Then when I found out I was pregnant I asked him if he wanted to be involved, and he said no."

"That's terrible!" said Roland.

"No it's not. He was very wealthy - I could have probably taken him to court and got a lot of money out of him - but I didn't want it to be like that. I got him to leave me some contact details in case Jason ever needed a kidney or something, and then he went."

"So you raised him all on your own?"

"No, not _all on my own_. My mother wanted me to move to Detroit, near her, but I didn't want to leave New Jersey because I had so many great friends there, so she moved to New York. She _wanted _to move in practically next door, but I managed to persuade her to keep _some_ distance. Not that I'm not grateful to her - she's been fantastic. Everyone was great, and I had a really understanding boss. Jason used to come to work with me, from the end of my maternity leave right up until he graduated high school last summer."

"Do you still work in the piercing and tattoo parlour?"

"Yes, of course, I love it there. I manage the place now - it's awesome. And Jason was the best thing that ever happened to me - so what with him, and my job, I've never looked for anything else. He's been travelling. I've missed him like crazy, but he's back now." She felt an involuntary smile splitting her face. "And he's meeting me here."

"Who?" someone asked, and Celine looked round to see that they had been joined again by Max, now with his father. It was Garrett who had spoken.

"Jason, my son," said Celine.

"So you _were_ pregnant at the wedding!" Max said triumphantly.

Celine smiled. "Yes, very. Eight hours after I saw you, I went into labour."

"Saw him where?" asked Garrett. "What wedding?"

"I thought you were," said Max. "But I didn't like to ask in case you were just fat or the baby died or something."

"Who was with you when you had him?" asked Roland, concerned.

"A friend," said Celine. "She was great. _Everyone_ was great, I told you."

"_Where_?" Garrett said emphatically.

"Stephie's wedding," said Max.

"_What_?" said Garrett. He looked at Celine. "You weren't at Stephie's wedding!"

"Yes I was," she said. "I avoided you."

"Oh, _that's_ nice. I wish I hadn't bothered coming over to say hi now."

"I'm sorry, Garrett."

"So your Jason's coming _here_?" said Roland. "Would he like to come to dinner?"

Celine blinked at him. "What?"

"Grace told me to invite you to dinner. Natalie's coming, and everything."

Celine curled her lip. "Why make it into a big thing like dinner?"

"Because you're an old friend, and it's polite."

"Are you sure she doesn't just want to warn me off you or something?"

"Yeah, that's probably it," said Garrett.

"She's not like that," said Roland. "You wanted to meet the kids, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," said Celine. "But I can't bring Jason - that would be rude."

"No it wouldn't. I want to meet him. I'll call Grace and tell her there's one extra," and without waiting for a reply, he wandered off with his cell phone again.

"Well," said Celine, left with Garrett and Max. "_That_ might be weird."

"I don't know, Celine," said Garrett. "It was a long time ago."

"What happened, anyway?" asked Max.

"Nothing," said Celine. "I just had the hots for Roland, that's all."

"But not anymore?"

"No, not anymore."

"You'll have a nice dinner with them, then," said Max.

Hearing someone say something so sensible, Celine felt bad about her suspicion of Grace's intentions. Of course she was only offering dinner to her husband's old friend as a goodwill gesture. Then her thoughts were interrupted when her cell phone beeped. This time it _was_ Wanda, with a text message:

_Wht r u dng? Mt me in cftria._

.-.-.-.

Wanda was sitting at a table by the window, nursing a steaming cup of something, and Celine noticed how much like her old self she still looked. She had put on a little bit of weight, grown her hair down to her chin and dyed it a darker blond than it used to be, but the difference was minimal. Twenty-odd years in a psychiatric hospital had been good to her, it seemed, for she had aged very well. Celine could not help feeling anxious. She herself looked nothing like she had all years ago, and yet both Eduardo and Roland had recognised her with no trouble at all.

"You didn't leave," said Wanda, as Celine sat down. "Here, I got you a 7-Up."

"Thanks," said Celine. "I couldn't leave - Eduardo cornered me."

"Yeah? So what did he say?"

"Well, he asked me what I was doing there, so I told him - I didn't mention you, though - and he told me about his grandchildren. She's got a little girl as well. Charlotte. And the baby's name is Joshua. The guy we saw her with is Charlotte's father - his name's Dennis. They split up for a while after Charlotte was born, and then she had Joshua with this other guy, but he cheated on her, and now he's living with - "

"Celine, how do you _know_ all of this?"

"She told me."

"You mean you _talked_ to her?"

"Yes, I did," said Celine. "They were all perfectly friendly, except for Kylie. I've been asked to dinner with the Jacksons."

Wanda gaped. "Who asked you?"

Celine gave her a withering look. "Conchita's fiancé. Who do you _think_ asked me?"

"Okay," said Wanda, "so Roland asked you. That's really weird, though. I mean, Kylie wouldn't invite _me_ to dinner, would she?"

"Yeah, well, I never _actually_ kidnapped his lover, fully intending to torture and kill her."

"Hey, that was a long time ago. And I was crazy. That's why you had me locked up."

"Yes, I remember. I wish you'd stop getting at me about that - you were _dangerous_."

"Fine, whatever, forget it. So," said Wanda, "you were telling me about Conchita. She sounds like a bit of a tramp to me."

Celine shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not - I'm really not in a position to judge. I always knew she'd get screwed around by guys, though. She was very sweet and nice and naïve as a child, and she hasn't changed much. And she's gorgeous, so she attracts them."

"See, this is why it's better if you're a lesbian - that kind of thing doesn't happen."

"Sure it does."

"Well, not nearly so much, then. And you _definitely_ don't get pregnant."

"Yeah, true. I'll tell you who _is_ a lesbian, though. Rose. She's married to the blonde."

"Rose is a lesbian?" said Wanda, brightening. "That's fantastic!"

"Wanda, for God's sake. She's married, and you're old enough to be her mother."

"I don't mean it's fantastic for _me_ - it's fantastic for _her_. God, Celine, what kind of a person do you think I _am_?"

"I know what kind of a person you _were_," said Celine. "You were dangerously obsessed with the girl's mother, don't forget."

Wanda scowled. "I _haven't_ forgotten. But that was a long time ago - I was crazy."

"Is that going to be your excuse for everything?"

"_What_?"

"I _know_ you were crazy," said Celine. "But the way you just keep going 'I was crazy' - it's just a blanket excuse for all the shitty things you've ever done. I mean fine, you were crazy, but it doesn't make everything okay - not without a _little_ bit of remorse."

"God, Celine, listen to yourself," said Wanda, her lip curling disdainfully. "Do you think I'm not sorry it happened? Of course I am!"

"Sorry it happened? Sorry you spent twenty years in the nuthouse, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Sorry you tried to split up a perfectly good marriage?"

"I don't care about them," said Wanda.

Celine exhaled heavily, and sat back in her chair. "Oh, beautiful. If you don't care about them, then why are we here? And why am I telling you about their offspring?"

"All right, so maybe I'm interested. I threw away the best years of my life because I was obsessed with them - I came back to see what all the fuss was about."

"Oh, you did, did you? You came to see what all the fuss was about. I _knew_ it was only ever about Kylie. Have you forgotten Bess? The reason you _said_ we were doing it all?"

Wanda's scowl deepened. "No, I have not forgotten Bess."

"This entire conversation makes no sense," said Celine. "So she means nothing to you, does she? Are you _really_ telling me that _all that _was _just_ about Kylie's body?"

"No!" snapped Wanda. "That was part of it, but it was also the fact that she married _him_, and… I don't know, I was crazy!"

"Jesus Christ, Wanda. I at least thought you had feelings for her. I even thought maybe you were in love with her or something."

Wanda shook her head. "I was never in love with her. I was in love with _you_."

Celine blinked in surprise and disbelief. "No you weren't."

"Yes I was. When I was in the nuthouse, you were all I thought about. At first I was mad at you for having me committed, but then… well, I realised what a fool I'd been, because really I'd loved _you_ all along."

"No, no, no," said Celine, unable to take this in. "That can't be right. We were together."

"Yes."

"And I loved _you_."

"I know."

"But if you were in love with _me_," said Celine, "then what was the problem? Why did you go after Kylie?"

"Because I was crazy!"

"YOU'RE DOING IT AGAIN!"

At that point an officious member of the catering staff came over, demanding, "Do I need to call security?"

"I don't know, maybe," said Celine. "She's crazy."

"No I'm not!" Wanda said indignantly. "Not anymore!"

"I'd better go," said Celine, beginning to stand up.

"Celine, wait." Wanda grabbed her hand. "I still love you, you know."

"Oh God."

"Couldn't we -?"

She snatched her hand away. "No we could not! Are you crazy?"

Wanda frowned. "No," she said, with exaggerated patience. "Not for almost a year."

There was nothing else to say after that, and the cafeteria lady was still glowering at them, so Celine turned and went. She was angry and confused, but she was also relieved. She was, after all, supposed to be meeting her son soon.

.-.-.-.

When Celine arrived back at the exhibition, she immediately looked around for Roland. Before she had spotted him, however, Conchita came up to her - with Joshua falling asleep on her shoulder - and said, "There you are. Adam's here."

"He is?" Celine said, surprised by the eagerness in her own voice. She knew why she was so interested in Roland's children. It was because she really did used to have feelings for him, and even though she now knew she had misinterpreted them, she still thought of Roland as a significant person in her life. She had thought Wanda's interest in Conchita and Rose must have been something similar, but now it made no sense at all.

"I'll introduce you," said Conchita, and she led Celine towards Rose, who was talking to an unassuming boy in his late teens.

Going by Conchita's earlier comments, Celine had expected Adam Jackson to be a clone of his father: bookish and nerdy, and possibly suffering some kind of ill effects from all the "stress" he was putting himself under. In many ways he resembled Roland, but he also gave Celine an impression of what Grace - whom she had never met - must have looked like. His skin was of a slightly darker hue than Roland's, his frame slimmer and his height just a little less. Of course, Celine thought, he might still grow.

Conchita introduced them. Adam smiled politely, and shook hands. Then he said, "You're the person who's coming to dinner."

"Yes," Celine agreed. "I hope I'm not ruining anyone's plans."

"Well, _I_ wasn't planning anything," said Adam. "My sister normally goes out on a Saturday night, but… well, she'll get over it."

"Which sister?" asked Celine, only to keep him talking, eager as she was to learn about him and his family.

"Lucy," said Adam. "Nat wouldn't be coming if she didn't want to."

"I hope they're not forcing Lucy to stay home," said Celine, beginning to worry about the reception she might receive from a fifteen-year-old girl robbed of her evening out. "I don't want that on my conscience."

"Oh, don't worry, it's not your fault," said Adam.

"She'll be fine with it anyway," Conchita said brightly.

"I'm told she's 'sweet'," Celine said, with a surreptitious head-gesture at Conchita.

Adam smiled, obviously getting her drift, and said, "She can be."

Conchita and Rose left as Celine drew out her conversation with Adam. She found him charismatic and likeable, and didn't imagine that Roland could have talked to a stranger so well when he was younger. Adam had claimed not to have plans for that night, but this could not have been due to unpopularity. A boy like this surely had friends.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Celine asked him, at an appropriate juncture.

"Oh, yeah," said Adam. "Her name's Amanda. We've been going out for five years."

"Weren't you twelve five years ago?"

"Yes."

"Well," said Celine, "that's great. And your sister?"

"Which one?"

"Both. No, wait - Roland told me about Natalie."

"Ah, yes, the rock star," said Adam.

Celine blinked. "The what?"

"That's a touchy subject. He used to go out with my aunt, like, a million years ago - Dad seems to think he's trying to sleep with all the women in our family. Anyway, no, Lucy doesn't have a boyfriend - she doesn't seem to be into that yet. So that's good, I guess."

Celine began to wonder. Was Lucy a lesbian as well? A late developer? Secretly in love with someone - male or female - with no intention of letting on? She might even have been asexual. Her not yet having reached that stage seemed the most likely explanation, and from Celine's point of view, it was not ideal. Having got the idea that Lucy was strongly opposed to the whole dinner thing, she had hoped that Jason's being there would help her to come to terms with it. Teenage girls liked him, as a general rule.

Celine found Roland again, and began quizzing him about his daughter's attitude towards family get-togethers on Saturday evenings.

"I don't want her resenting me," she said.

"She won't," said Roland.

"I wish you'd let her go out."

"I haven't spoken to her since this morning - it's nothing to do with me. Anyway, I thought you wanted to meet her."

"Is that what you told Grace? See, that's why - she's making her stay home now. You know, I would never have made Jason stay in if he really didn't want to. I actually kinda disapprove of parents who are too controlling."

"Don't call Grace controlling," said Roland. "Or me, for that matter. Anyway, who says she really doesn't want to stay in?"

"Well, no one really," said Celine, wondering whether to tell him about Adam's comment - he might even be able to clarify it for her. But then she saw Jason, and she forgot everything else. Overjoyed, she strode over to him and hugged him tightly. He hugged back, smiling, and listening patiently to her proclamations of, "I missed you _so much_!"

Then she remembered where she was, and what had been happening. She told Jason they had both been invited to dinner with the family of an old friend of hers, to which he responded, "Great, a free meal." Then she took him to Roland, and introduced them.

Celine was not surprised, and rather amused, to see that Roland was horrified when finally confronted with her son. Jason, she knew, was slightly alarming to look at if one was prone to believing stereotypes. He had thick dreadlocks that hung halfway down his back, two rings in his left earlobe and one in his right eyebrow. Later he would probably take off his jacket, thereby revealing the tattoo on his left arm.

"Hi," said Jason, smiling pleasantly and offering a handshake.

Celine's cell phone beeped again. It was another text message from Wanda:

_Who the hell is that?_

Celine looked vaguely around for Wanda, but didn't see her, and she didn't particularly want to. She stopped looking, and stuffed the phone back into her pocket.

Roland had not replied to Jason's greeting at all by the time Eduardo and Garrett appeared, apparently very interested in the new arrival. Celine found this understandable; she herself was interested in all of these people's offspring, not just Roland's. Kylie looked interested too, but still kept her distance, occasionally giving Celine the evil eye.

"Hey." Celine grabbed Eduardo's arm, and led him away from the group. "I don't suppose there's anything I can do to get Kylie to forgive me?"

"I'll talk to her about it later," he said, looking at Kylie. Celine saw her scowl at him, and then turn away. "Y'know, she doesn't usually hold grudges. If it was her you and Wanda did all that stuff to, she'd have forgiven you by now. But I wouldn't have."

"Aww, sweet," Celine said distastefully.

"It's always easier to forgive your own suffering," said Eduardo. "You must know that - you obviously love your son."

"Of course I do. I don't love his father, though - I don't care _what_ happens to him."

"Well, fine, but Kylie loves _me_. Or at least that's what she says."

"But it's not the same as loving your child, though, is it? Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Does it bother you, Rose being a lesbian?"

"Are you kidding me?" Eduardo said with feeling. "Do you know what men are _like_?"

"Yes."

"Why would it bother me?"

"Well," said Celine, "you had a bad experience with lesbians once."

"Yeah," said Eduardo, "but lesbians aren't like spiders in that respect, are they?"

"Not in that respect, no. Oh, look, Jason and Conchita seem to be getting along."

"She gets on with most people."

"So does he. Hmm… Dennis doesn't seem to like it much."

"_What_?" Eduardo, with a panicked expression, looked at Dennis, and then hastily looked away again. "Oh God, don't tell me that. Ignore it."

"And what - maybe it'll go away?"

"Yes! He'd better stop looking like that before she catches him - that's what caused all the problems in the first place."

"You mean he gets jealous?" asked Celine, very much interested. Conchita Rivera's love life sounded to her like a trashy but addictive soap opera.

"He used to. He's gotten better about it, apparently. But your son - he's, um… the type she would have been interested in about ten years ago. Apparently Dennis worries about somebody better coming along. He at least _realises_ she's too good for him."

Celine smiled slightly. "But she's too good for everyone, though, right?"

"Well," said Eduardo, "she's too good for everyone _I've_ ever met."

"What about if she was a lesbian?" asked Celine. "Is Anna good enough for Rose?"

"I like Anna," said Eduardo. "Anyway, women are different."

"Are they?"

"I don't know. I hope so. I know how men think."

"I heard Rose went on one date with Max," said Celine. "You like _him_, don't you? He's absolutely sweet - you _couldn't_ object to him seeing your daughter."

"Max is great," said Eduardo. "When he and Rose went on that one date, I didn't worry too much. But they were only eighteen then. I wouldn't want her marrying him - I'm not sure he could provide a stable home. He really tries, but he's… had a few different jobs."

Celine nodded. "Like a seal."

"What?"

"Never mind. The man providing a stable home, huh? What an old-fashioned concept."

"_Half_ a stable home, then. Rose is an artist and Conchita's a mom. She does what work she can, as long as Joshua can be with her, but they both need a second income to live."

"What does Dennis do?"

Eduardo's voice was suddenly as black as coal, as he replied, "He's a cop." Then he hastily changed the subject. "Hey, look at that. Your son must be something pretty special - I've never known Rose take to a stranger so fast."

"I really am sorry, you know," said Celine, as the situation suddenly hit her. "About everything. It turns out you and I actually get on okay. Well… _I _think so, anyway."

"I think so too," said Eduardo. "Oh, Kylie's looking at us again. I'm gonna go and ask her to forgive you."

"Oh." Celine smiled, touched by the gesture. "Thanks."

"I can't promise anything, though."

Celine watched Eduardo as he approached Kylie, who began talking before he could open his mouth. He listened patiently, and still hadn't started to talk by the time Jason appeared at Celine's side, saying, "Nice people, aren't they?"

"Hmm?" said Celine, turning to look at him. "Oh, yeah, most of them. Rose didn't strike me as the easiest person to get on with, though."

"Oh, she's pretty cool," said Jason. "It's actually real easy to win over her _and_ her sister. You just have to tell Rose you like her art, and Connie that you like her baby."

Celine raised her eyebrows. "Connie?"

"That's what she told me her name was."

"Oh, that's interesting - her parents didn't call her that. Did you talk to Adam?"

"Yeah, he's cool too," said Jason. "I don't think his dad likes me, though."

"He will when he gets to know you."

"Mmm, at dinner."

"Exactly. But that's a while off - you need to have something to eat in the meantime. Have you had lunch?"

"I had something at home."

"Yeah, well, you didn't have time to eat _much_ - I'm taking you to get something else."

.-.-.-.

Celine confirmed the time and place with Roland, and then went with Jason to where he had parked his motorcycle. As they were leaving, her cell phone beeped again, indicating that she had another text message. She didn't read it. They went to an inexpensive café that Celine had frequented as a student, and which hadn't changed all that much in the thirty-odd years since. Here, Jason talked animatedly of his travels for over an hour.

Then eventually, he said, "Mom, why do you look so worried?"

"Do I look worried?" she said, though she had no intention of denying it.

"Come on, tell me."

Celine did not answer straightaway. She first took out her cell phone, and was surprised to see that the text message was not from Wanda at all. It was just junk from her service provider. Annoyed, she deleted the message, and then realised that Wanda's total silence was more worrying than an angry text message. She stared down at the phone in her hand, wondering whether to attempt to make contact herself.

"You remember I told you about my friend Wanda?" Celine asked.

"Of course," said Jason. His mother had told him everything about her relationship with Wanda Kazinsky, and it was not exactly forgettable.

Celine looked at him, and said sheepishly, "She's here."

"What? Where?"

"I don't know - I left her at the gallery."

Jason gaped. "Oh, Mom!"

"Oh Mom what?"

"I bet none of your friends back there know she's been hanging around, do they?"

"Well," said Celine. "No."

"And why were you with her anyway? You're always telling me what a destructive influence you were on each other."

"Yeah, we were. But we're older now."

"And she's not crazy anymore, right?"

"Probably not. She's been let out, anyway."

"Yeah," said Jason, "well, I saw the way you were talking to those guys - and all the time you were with the woman that wanted to do all kinds of sick and weird things to them?"

"Only one of them. Well… maybe two, if she wanted to be sick and weird with Kylie."

"It just doesn't seem right somehow."

"Well honey, I didn't _plan_ any of this," said Celine. "I didn't know they were going to recognise me, and Roland was going to start asking me to dinner and shit. And I certainly wasn't expecting _you_ back."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "Have I caused some kind of problem?"

"Of course not, sweetie. It's just… well, I didn't tell Wanda about you, because if she's anything like she used to be she won't like it. And then when you showed up at the thing she sent me a message asking who you are, and I… I kind of ignored it. And now I don't know where she is."

"Okay, so why not send her a message now?"

"I could." Celine stared uselessly at her cell phone.

"So what happened, anyway? I thought you guys were done with each other."

"Yeah, so did I. But she found me. She knocked on my door, and the first thing she did was show me this thing about the art exhibition. I asked her if she wanted to cause trouble, and she said no, she just wanted to see what they'd all turned out like. And I was curious too, so I thought it'd be okay."

"It _is_ okay," said Jason. "She hasn't done anything, has she?"

"Not as far as I know."

"Mom, listen. If they let her out, she's probably sane enough, and she _said_ she doesn't want to cause trouble. Send her a message. It's bad manners just walking out on her."

"I didn't _just_ walk out on her, Jason - we'd already had a fight. She started telling me she was in love with me."

"Oh. Is that a bad thing?"

"_Now_ it is."

"Why?"

"Well," said Celine, "for one thing, there's a serious timing issue. I loved _her_ twenty-something years ago, and the reason it didn't work out then is because _she_ was obsessively trying to bed somebody else. So for her to turn around now and say it didn't mean anything, and it was me all along… well, that's just not good enough."

"You could probably put that behind you if you wanted to," said Jason. "What it comes down to is whether you think you could love her again."

"I don't know, perhaps I could. But I probably shouldn't - we always were bad for each other. All the best things I've ever done I did when I was far away from her."

"So what are you going to do?"

"After tonight, I don't know," said Celine. "But for now, I should at least call her."

.-.-.-.

Wanda still had not answered her phone when Celine and Jason arrived at the Jacksons' house at seven o'clock. Celine had called several times by then, and sent about ten strongly worded text messages urging her to answer.

"Mom, stop worrying," said Jason, just as the door was opened by a woman who was, presumably, Grace. Celine hastily put her cell phone away, and smiled politely.

"Hi, come in," said Grace, waving them inside. "Let me take your coats. Go through to the living room. Lucy!" This she shouted up the stairs. "Adam and Roland are there. So is my daughter Natalie - you don't know her. LUCY, get your butt down here!"

Grace looked very much as Celine had expected her to: approaching fifty, darker-skinned than either she or Roland, not so tall as he was and not unattractive. But the stepdaughter, Natalie, Celine had not tried to imagine. She had nothing at all to go on, and now saw that there was nothing about the woman's appearance that she would have guessed. She had olive skin, a lanky frame and sharp features, and was obviously in her late twenties or early thirties. Her age was the most surprising thing - Grace must have been very young indeed when she had her. If Celine had ever been told that Natalie's father was white, she had since forgotten, but there was no surprise when she saw that this was clearly the case.

Natalie was the first to speak. She looked at Jason's left arm, and said, "Nice tattoo."

"Oh, thanks," Jason said smilingly. "Hi."

He was addressing a new arrival, who by process of elimination had to be Lucy. Celine had tried not to build up a picture of her before meeting her, but found it was impossible not to have ideas about Roland's daughter - someone she was so interested in, and had heard so much about. Based on Conchita's testimony, she might have expected a stunningly beautiful and angelic girl who couldn't do enough for you. But then there was her own preconception, based on a few offhand comments from Adam, that Lucy would be sulky and irritable and constantly trying to persuade her parents to let her leave.

But of course, Celine's picture was not strictly accurate. The most immediately obvious thing was that Lucy was not really so pretty as all that. Celine considered that she was prettier than she herself had ever been, and not so pretty as Conchita Rivera, but of course that was true of damn near everyone in the world. Facially the girl resembled her mother, and the effect was enhanced by her mini-braids, though Lucy's hair was very much longer than Grace's. She had her father's solid frame, but very little of his height. Celine took all of this in quickly, and then put it to one side. As someone who had quickly learnt not to set much store by looks, she was more interested in what this girl had to say for herself.

"Hi," Lucy said, in response to Jason's greeting. Her face and tone of voice were both unreadable as she, too, looked at the tattoo on his arm - a tiger in black ink, stretching from shoulder to elbow - and asked, "Didn't that hurt?"

"Yes," said Jason, "but not for long."

"This is Lucy," Grace said pointedly. "Lucy, this is Jason and Celine."

"I know," said Lucy. "Dad already told me."

Maybe she _was_ in an obstinate mood after all, Celine thought. Her mother gave her a look, but she didn't make a big deal out of it. From all of this, Celine decided that Lucy Jackson was nothing more or less than an average teenager, as was her brother. He leaned a little more towards the amiable side, it seemed, but essentially they were both just kids. Celine couldn't help thinking that they were much less interesting than Max Miller, with his bad luck, positive outlook and wildlife metaphors; and Conchita Rivera, with her children and her men and her uncanny ability to see the good in everyone. Even Rose was beautiful, a lesbian and a progressing conceptual artist - that was much more interesting than just being ordinary.

Suddenly, thinking of those Rivera sisters - young, attractive, unwary and the offspring of Eduardo and Kylie - Celine was reminded of Wanda, and she immediately resumed her worrying. She reached into her pocket and fingered her cell phone, wanting to call Wanda again, but she wasn't going to excuse herself for that. It would be bad manners, and for what? Her call would probably just be rejected again anyway.

"Dinner will be about half an hour," said Grace. "Can one of you set the table, please?"

"I'll do it," said Adam, and he hurried to the task with undisguised enthusiasm.

"So, Jason," said Grace. "Roland tells us you've been travelling. Where did you go?"

"Well, I didn't actually leave the country," said Jason, "but I went all over."

Celine switched off, as she had heard all of this before, and was preoccupied with her worrying. She wondered whether it would have been better if she'd answered that first text message, asking who Jason was, and decided it probably would have been. Wanda claimed not to be insane any longer, and in fairness to her, it was probably true. There was every chance that her dislike of men was no longer psychotic and dangerous; she probably would not have tipped over the edge if she had learnt that Celine had allowed a man to be intimate with her, leading directly to the conception and birth of another.

Celine did not know how long she had been worrying, and not paying the slightest bit of attention, when Roland touched her shoulder and said, "Are you okay?"

She looked up in surprise. Then, even through her anxiety, she noticed that Roland was wielding a wooden spoon, and she approved. She and Jason were _his_ guests - it only seemed right that he should at least help out in the kitchen.

"I'm fine," she said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course."

Jason was still talking with Natalie and Lucy. Grace and Adam were both absent from the group, probably falling over each other to be helpful in getting dinner ready like the good, happy little workers they were.

"Australia," said Jason.

"Why?" asked Lucy. Looking at her, Celine saw that she had perked up considerably. She was focussing on Jason , and clearly listening out of more than mere politeness.

"Well, I've heard it's really beautiful there," said Jason. "I met some Australian people in California, and I really liked them. I'm sure all Australians aren't the same, but I'd like to meet some more all the same. And of course, they have really amazing wildlife."

"I didn't know you wanted to go to Australia," said Celine.

Jason looked at her. "I hadn't really thought about it that much before Lucy asked me."

Celine fancied that something crossed Lucy's face when Jason said her name, but thought nothing of it. Girls liked Jason - that was just the way of it. There were more important things to think about now. Celine turned to Roland and asked, "Where's the bathroom?"

It wasn't just an excuse - she really did need to go to the bathroom. Then, before she had left it, she tried calling Wanda again. No reply. So she sent another text:

_I'm sorry! He's my son, tell u about him later. Pls call, I'm worried about u._

For whatever reason, this was the message that made Wanda reply. The speed with which the message arrived was astonishing, and worrying. Before she had even read the message, Celine imagined her friend stabbing at her keypad in anger. The message said:

_What do u think I'm gng 2 do?!_

This did nothing to ease her mind. Celine tried calling again, then sent another text message urging Wanda to talk to her, but to no avail. Sighing heavily, she stuffed the phone back into her pocket and made her way out onto the landing.

Jason was making his way towards the bathroom. Celine smiled at him, and said, "Hey, baby. Are you having an okay time - do you wish I hadn't brought you?"

"Of course I don't - they're nice people," said Jason.

"You brought Lucy around to tonight, anyway."

"Oh, yeah, she's a really nice girl once you get her talking. She wants to travel as well, she told me. But you'd know that if you'd been paying any attention back there."

"I'm sorry," said Celine.

"You need to stop worrying about her," said Jason. "What do you think might happen?"

"I don't know."

"Well, forget about it. Dinner was practically ready when I came up - I just have to go to the bathroom. Try to enjoy yourself, Mom, okay? You wanted to find out what those kids were like, didn't you? You'll never know if you keep worrying about Wanda."

"What _are_ they like?" Celine asked.

Jason shrugged. "Smart. Polite. Normal. We'll have a nice dinner with them, Mom."

.-.-.-.

Dinner was, indeed, very nice. Roland's family were all good talkers, as was Jason, and Celine found herself joining in with the conversation without any difficulty. Lucy, when she smiled and laughed, came a little nearer to Conchita's description of "_so_ pretty" than she had when she first put in an appearance. She seemed interested in hearing about the art exhibition, and Celine was tempted to ask her why she hadn't gone herself, but didn't.

"Do you think she's good?" Lucy asked at length.

"I don't know sh-… anything about art," said Celine.

"I thought you ran a tattoo parlour," said Natalie.

"I do," said Celine. "I don't _actually _tattoo people, though."

"But she knows how to do piercings," said Jason. "She did my eyebrow."

"Who did your tattoo?" asked Lucy.

"Guy called Paulo. He's very good."

"Yeah? Do _you_ know about art?"

"Oh Lord, Lucy, no," said Jason. "But I liked what I saw at the exhibition today. It was different, and kind of… well, I don't know, but I didn't get bored looking at it."

"Did you talk to her about it?" asked Adam. "When she talks about her art, she's actually kind of interesting."

"At least, she doesn't make you wish you hadn't asked," said Lucy.

"Who else was there?" asked Grace, trying to keep things upbeat. "Rose's family, I assume. Did you see Conchita's kids? They are _so _cute."

"Joshua was there," said Jason. "I think Charlotte's considered too young. I had a long conversation about her with Connie, though - and how sweet is _she_?"

"A lot of guys like her," Lucy said dully. "She's pretty, isn't she?"

"Sure," said Jason. "But that's not why I liked her."

Lucy snorted. "Whatever."

"_I_ liked her," said Celine, "and I'm not a guy."

"Yeah," said Lucy, "but you swing both ways, don't you?"

"Lucy!" said Grace.

"It's all right," said Celine. "Yes, I do. But she's too young for me, _and_ she's engaged."

Natalie gave a derisive little snort. "Yeah, _today_ she is."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Celine, interested.

"Well," said Natalie, "they were engaged before. But they just didn't make any wedding plans or anything, and then one day we heard they'd broken up."

"Chita was eight and a half months pregnant," Lucy added brightly.

"But it's different this time," Grace said pointedly, looking disapprovingly at both of her daughters. "I'm sure it'll work out."

Natalie shrugged. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Was Carl there?" asked Grace, seemingly eager to change the subject.

"Yes, he was," said Roland. "You guys didn't meet him, though, did you?"

"Who's Carl?" said Celine. "Oh, wait - you mean Eduardo's brother? _He_ was there? Damn, I wish I _had_ met him - I heard a lot about him from Bess. A _lot_ about him."

"Who's Bess?" asked Adam.

"An old friend of mine," said Celine. "She and Eduardo used to date for, like, five minutes. She's dead now," she added, to ensure there was no misunderstanding.

Roland looked away uncomfortably while Adam, Grace and Natalie all stared at Celine. Jason looked at her too, clearly trying to think of something to say.

Lucy, though, took it in her stride. She swallowed a mouthful of food, then said, "They _are_ actually making plans this time, though. She wants me to be a bridesmaid."

Her entire family stared at her, as though this was shocking news.

"Oh, Lucy!" said Natalie. She sounded appalled.

"When did she ask you _that_?" said Roland.

"A couple of days ago."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Lucy shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"You didn't say no, did you?" Grace asked warily.

"Well, I wanted to at first," Lucy said. "But then she told me I didn't have to do anything humiliating, or wear anything stupid. So I asked her what I'd have to wear, and she said she'd take me shopping and I could choose anything I liked."

"She said _what_?" said Natalie. Then she glared at Grace. "That is _so_ not fair."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Nat, for God's sake, it was twenty years ago."

"Nineteen and a half," said Natalie.

"I doubt she really meant _anything_, Lucy," said Roland.

Lucy frowned at him. "That's what she said. She said everyone can wear whatever the hell they want, including the bridesmaids - that's me and Rose and Charlotte. So we won't match or anything - I think it sounds kinda cool."

"That _does_ sound kinda cool," said Jason. "It sounds like it's just going to be about them getting married and celebrating with all their friends, and making sure everybody has a good time. I mean, really, why _should _there be a dress code at these things?"

"You'd like to go, then?" asked Lucy, ever so offhand.

"Sure," said Jason, "if I'm invited."

"And if it ever _happens_," added Natalie.

Grace gave Natalie one of her looks, and in the same moment, Celine's cell phone starting ringing. She took it out and glanced at it. Then, without any excuse or apology, she leapt up and answered the call, saying as she rushed out of the room, "Oh my _God_, there you are! Why didn't you answer? What have you been _doing_?"

"I'll ask you again," said Wanda. "What do you _think_ I've been doing?"

Celine sighed heavily, and rubbed her eyes. "Nothing, nothing, nothing. Well… you must have been doing _something_, I guess. I don't think you've been doing anything psychotic, though, honestly. I'm just worried about you, after today."

"I'm fine," said Wanda. "Oh, shoot, sorry - are you at your dinner now?"

"Yes. Don't worry, it's fine - talk to me. I'm sorry I ran out on you like that."

"Forget it. I'm sorry I sprung that on you - pretend I never said it."

"All right," said Celine. She wasn't going to argue. She was not prepared to try and love Wanda again _that_ day, but she still felt that their friendship was worth saving. As such, Wanda's suggestion was perfect.

"So what about you?" asked Wanda. "Are you getting on with Roland's family?"

"Yeah, we're getting on fine," said Celine. "They're all completely normal. Grace is nice. She keeps giving her daughters these mom looks when they say something she doesn't like, but at least she's not openly ticking them off. She doesn't do it to Adam, though - he's being the perfect host."

"You don't hate her, then? Don't want to scratch her eyes out?"

"No I do not! To be honest with you, Wanda, I only ever wanted to be with Roland in the short term. You know… emotional support, sex, that kind of thing, just until I felt better. I couldn't have done the whole… _family_ thing. I mean, Grace seems comfortable with it, but all sitting down round the table like this… I couldn't do it every day."

"No?" said Wanda. "Wasn't it like that with your son?"

Celine sighed heavily. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about him. I just thought you'd…"

"Yes?"

"Well… react badly, I guess. Do you still hate men?"

"Not so much anymore," said Wanda. "I'm still disgusted by the mere thought of one touching me, but… I mean, most of them are assholes, but I've learnt to tolerate them."

"Okay, well, that's great," said Celine, supposing that this was as much as she could have hoped for. "It's just that… well, twenty years ago, you'd have _hated_ the idea of Jason."

"Yeah, but I was - "

"Crazy, I know."

"So that's his name, is it?" said Wanda. "Jason. What made you choose that?"

"I don't know, it's a nice name. And it had to be something with two syllables. Three is too many - it's ostentatious - and you can't put a one-syllable name with Beck. Scott Beck, Jack Beck, Chris Beck… doesn't sound right. I _am_ sorry I didn't tell you. I should have. He's the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't deserve him - he's always been, like, the _perfect_ son. He loves me, but he's not clingy and he's still cool, y'know? Actually, I think Roland's daughter might be a little bit in love with him."

"Well, whatever floats her boat. Oh my God - Roland's not his father, is he?"

"No, Wanda, Roland and I never had sex. Jason's father is just some guy. I'll tell you about him another time, okay?"

"Okay," said Wanda. "So you're definitely over Roland, then? I'm glad."

"Me too," said Celine. "Now tell me what you've been doing. Are you really okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I, um… I talked to Rose, actually."

"You _what_?"

"Don't worry, I didn't threaten her or come onto her or rape her or anything. I just said hi, nice exhibition, where did she get her inspiration… Oh, and I bought a painting."

"You did?" said Celine, very much surprised. "Which one?"

"The one with all the teeth and claws. It just… I don't know, I was drawn to it, for some reason. I'm having it delivered to your place - I hope you don't mind. I don't really have anywhere permanent at the moment."

"Of course, that's fine. You know, you're lucky her parents didn't see you."

"Yeah, I know," said Wanda. "I would have been happy to talk civilly to both of them - I really believe I could be normal with them now. But I don't really expect them to feel that way towards me. Anyway, they were busy with the brat - what's his name again?"

"Joshua."

"Yeah, anyway, they were leaving - the daughter and the kid and the guy - and they had stuff, like, _all_ over the place, so it took them _hours_ to get ready to go. And then Eduardo and Kylie spent about twenty minutes saying goodbye - it was sickening. And then I… _might_ have followed them… just a little."

"_What_?" said Celine. "Oh my God, Wanda, you _are_ still crazy!"

"Shut up!" said Wanda. "I'm really not - I just wanted to see what the little girl looked like. That's why we're here, isn't it? To see how everybody turned out? Anyway, it was easy - they walked. And they met this old oriental couple - probably his parents, but I don't know, one shouldn't assume - with the kid, at this café. And then they all had something to eat. I tell you, the longest she went without sticking a nipple in that kid's mouth was about ten minutes. Anyway, I could have sat down and had a whole meal and listened to their entire conversation, but I didn't do that. I just had a coffee and then left."

"Have you eaten?"

"I'm eating right now."

"Okay, good," said Celine. "What was she like - the little girl?"

"Very much what you'd expect," said Wanda. "Small, pretty, girly… She was all over her dad. He calls her 'princess'."

Celine pulled a face. "Ach. I don't think even Eduardo used to do that."

"_My_ dad used to call me 'princess'."

"Yeah, and look how you turned out. I'm sorry, did I say that out loud? So what did she look like, anyway? It's hard to imagine what those two might produce."

"She looks a lot like her mom," said Wanda. "You know - huge eyes, tiny nose, big mouth… But she has his colouring, mostly. There's none of Eduardo in her at all."

"And then you left them alone, right?" said Celine. "What time was this?"

"Mid-afternoon… I don't know exactly. Since then I've just been walking around." She laughed. "Like a crazy person. No, seriously - I walked around, sat down, watched people, looked at things… It was good. You can't do that in the nuthouse."

"I guess not," said Celine. "Look, I… I'd better go. Do you want to meet up again tonight, or what?"

"No, that's okay," said Wanda. "Go home with your son. I'll call you tomorrow, yeah?"

When she went back to the dinner party, Celine felt somewhat reassured, but she found that she was still worrying about Wanda. She had _said_ she was all right, but what if she was lying? It seemed very unlikely that she had called Celine to say an odd sort of goodbye before going off to kill herself, but the thought cropped up all the same.

"Everything okay?" asked Jason.

"Yeah, I think so," said Celine. "I'm really sorry about that - it was very rude."

"I'm sure it was important," said Grace.

Celine nodded. "She's important all right."

"Mom, is she really okay?" asked Jason, clearly concerned.

"Who?" asked Natalie.

"She said she was," said Celine.

"Well," said Jason, "you don't seem convinced."

"It's such a long time since I saw her," Celine said. "And even back then, you never could tell with her. I think she really is okay now, though - I'm worrying for nothing. Oh, Roland, don't look at me like that."

"I've got a horrible feeling you're talking about Wanda," he said.

"Why horrible?"

"You _know_ why."

"Who's Wanda?" said Adam.

"She's sane now," said Celine. She could feel everyone's eyes on her; Adam, Lucy and Natalie seemed particularly interested in this. Celine had no idea how much Grace knew, but suspected that Roland had told her _something_ at least.

"Where is she now?" asked Roland.

"I don't know. Having dinner somewhere."

"How long have you been back in touch with her?"

"A few days."

"Well…" said Roland.

"Yes?" Celine said sharply.

"How can you be sure…?"

She sighed. "I guess I can't. But she really seems better now, and they _did _let her out."

"So why did you have to run out and answer the phone that way?" asked Roland.

"Because," said Celine, "I've been worried about her today. We were talking about you, and Kylie, and everyone, and I thought maybe it would bring up some old stuff for her. But she says she's fine, and she's going to call me tomorrow, so there's really no need to worry. Can we talk about something else now, please?"

"Do you prefer men or women?" asked Lucy.

"Lucy!" Grace said, again.

"She said she wanted to talk about something else," Lucy said defensively.

"I don't prefer one over the other," said Celine, quietly wishing that Grace wouldn't reprimand her daughter for such questions. If Lucy really wanted to know, she felt quite comfortable talking about it. "It depends on the individual person."

Lucy turned her attention back to her food, and said, "That makes sense, I guess."

.-.-.-.

Just before they left, Lucy caught Jason alone out by the porch. At least, Celine assumed it had happened this way; she heard them talking as she approached the doorway. She hung back and listened, knowing it was wrong to eavesdrop, but doing it anyway.

"Next time you're here," said Lucy, "can I have a ride on that?"

"Sure," said Jason.

"Really?" She sounded pleased, and enormously surprised.

"Absolutely. _If_ it's okay with your parents."

She rapidly deflated. "Both of them?"

"Ideally. Why - which one of them do you think would be okay with it?"

"Well… we don't really have to tell them, do we? They'd never find out."

"Lucy, come on. What if I crashed it?"

"Well _don't_ crash it."

Roland appeared then. He swept past Celine, and said to the darkness outside, "There you are. Come inside - you'll freeze."

"I'm seeing him out," said Lucy. "It's polite."

"Hey." Natalie appeared, barged past Roland and stuck her head out of the doorway. "I just helped Mom clear the table - now she wants _you_ to go and dry the dishes."

"Why can't Adam do it?" Lucy asked irritably.

"Because he's on the phone to Amanda."

"So?" Lucy came inside then, looking decidedly annoyed. "Since when is calling the same person for half an hour every day a valid excuse to get out of doing chores?"

But she went to dry the dishes anyway, and Natalie announced that she was leaving. She and Roland hugged, and kissed each other on the cheek; then she said, "Bye, guys," and disappeared into the night. This left Roland and Celine alone in the hallway, and Jason waiting outside. Adam's voice could be heard from the living room, talking soppily to his girlfriend, while Lucy and Grace's voices came more faintly from the kitchen.

"Do you like his Amanda?" asked Celine.

"Oh, yeah, she's terrific," said Roland.

"What happens next year, when they go to college?"

"I don't know - they haven't even decided where to go yet. I'll let you know next year."

"I'd like that," said Celine. "To stay in touch this time, I mean. It wouldn't have been a very good idea twenty years ago, but now… well, I'm over it if you are."

"Of course I am," said Roland. "I can't speak for the others… well, Kylie… but I'd really like for you and me to keep in touch. I'm happy for you. You seem to have found what you wanted, anyway. Your Jason - he's, um… well, it seems like he takes care of you."

"He's fantastic," said Celine. "He's been nothing but a joy to me, from the day he was born. It was a wonderful experience, having a child - I definitely would have done that with you. But we would have split up eventually. Maybe even sooner rather than later. I'm sorry I tried to tempt you away from Grace - you're definitely better off with her. I like what I saw here today. I mean you, her, kids, all happy… You _are_ happy, right?"

"Yes," said Roland.

"That's good. Of course, I would have given you more than two, if you'd wanted."

"Would you?"

"Yes. Not that I'm trying to imply it would have been in any way better with me, because it definitely wouldn't. This is what's right for you - I can see that."

"It is," Roland said. "Natalie's almost like one of mine too. Well… she's not - she has a really good… she has a perfectly adequate dad, and he loves her, that's the important thing. And I love her too - it's just not quite the same. I always told Grace I wanted as many kids as she did. I think at one point she was only planning on having the one, but then Adam was so much easier than Natalie - so I'm told - so she said let's have another."

"And what was _she_ like?" asked Celine. "I'll bet she was a handful."

Roland nodded. "She was. I never really understood why. Natalie was always kind of the same, but _she_ gets it from her father. Well, anyway, we stopped at Lucy, and I couldn't ask for anything more. They're terrific - all three of them."

"It's good that your marriage survived. _I_ couldn't have done it. Been married, I mean."

Roland, looking cynical, cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Why? What makes you so sure?"

"Because I'm better on my own. When Jason was little, I didn't want anyone else around - it worked perfectly, just him and me."

"But you didn't think much of his father, did you? What if it was someone you loved?"

"The only person I ever _really_ loved," said Celine, "was Wanda. And look how _that_ turned out. Actually she, um… she told me today that she's still in love with me."

"Oh!" said Roland. "So… so how do you feel about that?"

"Oh God, I don't know. It's true, you know - I _am_ better on my own. And she brings out the worst in me. Maybe I bring out the worst in her too - I don't know, because I don't know what she's like without me. It'd be stupid to start anything, wouldn't it?"

"Celine, come on, only you can decide that. If you want to, then you should."

"Oh yes," said Celine, "_now_ I remember. You gave me all this advice about following my heart, and doing whatever it took to make me happy - that was what I liked about you. I still do, come to that. We _can_ be friends, can't we? Give me your number - I'll call and invite you guys to dinner with _us_. Jason's a wonderful cook. I never had a decent meal in my life until he was about ten years old, and got sick of the slop I was feeding him."

She gave him her cell phone, and Roland started to key in his number, saying, "We'll all come to dinner if you can promise me Jason won't let Lucy get on that motorcycle."

Celine raised her eyebrows. "You heard that, huh?"

"Eduardo always told me I'd develop a sixth sense for that kind of thing. Strangely enough, I never actually had to use it until today."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, it's not your fault." He handed back her phone. "Take care, okay?"

He kissed her on the cheek, and it felt perfectly natural, as though they were old friends. With a good feeling, Celine went out to where her son was waiting to take her home.

THE END


End file.
